Six J-School Alumni to walk the red carpet at this year’s News and Documentary Emmy Awards

The UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism will be well represented at this year’s News and Documentary Emmy Awards, with six alumni and several lecturers nominated for more than a dozen awards in various categories.

Tommy Nguyen (‘05), is up for three awards for his work as a videojournalist and producer on NBC Dateline’s A Bronx Tale – Outstanding Video Journalism, Best Report in a News Magazine, and Outstanding Feature in a News Magazine. A Bronx Tale tells the story of a man who proved his innocence after nearly two decades in prison for murder.

While completing his master’s at the J-School, Nguyen also wrote, produced and edited Boom Town, Vietnam – a 2005 film series that won a student Emmy. He credits his time at the J-School with allowing him to transition from print journalism to production: “I don’t think I could have broken into long-form television without the help of Bob Calo, Joan Bieder and Jon Else, and the resources of the J-school,” Nguyen said. “I remember sitting in on ‘Intro to Television’ at the last minute – it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.”

Nguyen’s classmate Jonathan Richard Jones (‘05) is up for two awards – alongside J-School lecturer T. Christian Miller – for Firestone and the Warlord, a collaboration between ProPublica and FRONTLINE. The story is a groundbreaking investigation into the role of the American corporation Firestone in Liberia’s brutal civil war. Jones and Miller are nominated both for Outstanding Research and Outstanding Investigative Journalism – Long-Form.

Jason Spingarn-Koff (‘01) has been nominated in the New Approaches: Arts, Lifestyle, Culture category for his work as executive producer on Notes on Blindness, a New York Times Op-Doc film series following one man’s social and emotional experience of going blind. Spingarn-Koff also took home an Emmy in last year’s awards.

Daffodil Altan (‘04) is also up for New Approaches award in the Current News Category for her work as a reporter on the CIR project, The Box: Teens in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Jails, Prisons and Juvenile Halls.

Bret Sigler (‘03) has been nominated for the Outstanding Editing award for his editing work Go or No Go: The Challenger Legacy, a New York Times Retro Report revisiting the 1986 Challenger tragedy. And Sweta Vohra (‘10) is up for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a News Magazine for her work as producer on Ferguson: City Under Siege on Al Jazeera America’s weekly investigative program Fault Lines.

The list of Emmy nominees also includes a number of lecturers and former lecturers at the J-School, including Josh Williams, Shan Carter, Kevin Quealy, and Sharon Tiller.

“It’s brings a thrilling sense of pride when students and faculty receive awards for good work,” said Joan Bieder, Associate Dean and Teaching Professor at the J-School. “But I can’t say it’s always a surprise. We know the quality of our students by the time they leave here – we expect them all to produce first rate work – and honestly they rarely disappoint.”

The awards will be presented to winners on September 28, 2015, at a ceremony at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall in New York City.

The full list of nominees can be found here.